Books/The Selfless Mind

The Selfless Mind

Book

Book

 Search online

Read Online

This careful analysis of early Buddhist thought opens out a perspective in which no permanent Self is accepted, but a rich analysis of changing and potent mental processes is developed. It explores issues relating to the not-Self teaching: self-development, moral responsibility, the between-lives period, and the 'undetermined questions' on the world, on the 'life principle' and on the liberated one after death. It examines the 'person' as a flowing continuity centered on consciousness or discernment (vinnana) configured in changing minds-sets (cittas). The resting state of this is seen as 'brightly shining' - like the 'Buddha nature' of Mahayana thought - so as to represent the potential for Nirvana. Nirvana is then shown to be a state in which consciousness transcends all objects, and thus participates in a timeless, unconditioned realm. (Source: Routledge)

See especially chapter 10, Bhavaṅga and the Brightly Shining Mind.

Citation	Harvey, Peter. The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvāṇa in Early Buddhism. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. First published 1995 by Curzon Press. http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/The%20Selfless%20Mind_Personality_Consciousness%20and%20Nirvana%20in%20Early%20Buddhism_Harvey_1995-2004r.pdf.

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• INTRODUCTION1
• Key non-Buddhist concepts1
• Key Buddhist concepts2
• 'Not-Self' and scholars7
• Sources9
• Methodology11

• Part I Exploring the Notion of Selflessness

• 1. THE QUESTION OF SELF17
•    Scholars who see a metaphysical Self in the 'early Suttas'17
•    Uses of the word 'self' (atta) in the 'early Suttas'19
•    Passages which might indicate the acceptance of a Self21
•    Nibbāna as not-Self and not related to a Self23
•    Self as 'not being apprehended'24
•    A Self beyond 'existence' and 'non-existence'?28
•    Proof of the impossibility of a Self31
•    Buddhism and the Upaniṣads on Self33
•    The status of the 'person'34
•    Why is Self not denied?: the Buddha and the
       Annihilationists38
•    The 'I am' attitude: its cause, effect and its ending40

• 2 THE MEANING OF 'NOT-SELF'43
•    The role of viewing phenomena as not-Self 43
•    The criteria for Self-hood46
•    Nibbāna and the Self-ideal51

• 3 DEVELOPING A SELF WITHOUT BOUNDARIES54
•    Living with citta as an 'island'54
•    Developing a 'great self'55
•     'One of developed self' 57
•    The Arahat as self-contained and 'dwelling alone'58
•    The Arahat's boundaryless citta60
•    The Arahat's boundaryless, self-contained self62

• 4 PERSONAL CONTINUITY AND RESPONSIBILITY64
•    The person as a continuity65
•    Responsibility for actions66
•    The stability of character traits over lives68
•    What conserves character traits and the unity of the 'continuity'?72
•    To what extent are 'continuities' isolated from each other and the world?74

• 5 MY WORLD AND ITS END78
•    The Self-world link and the meaning of 'world' (loka)78
•    The Buddhist perspective on the world79
•    The undetermined questions83
•    The undetermined questions on the world 84

• 6 THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE AND THE BETWEEN-LIVES STATE89
•    The undetermined questions on the life-principle89
•    The 'life-principle' accepted by early Buddhism91
•    Discernment and rebirth95
•    The question of the intermediary existence (antarā-bhava)98
•    The nature of the intermediary existence102
•    The gandhabba: spirit-being of the intermediary existence105

•                         Part II: Saṃsāric and Nibbānic Discernment109

• 7 THE CENTRALITY OF DISCERNMENT111
•    The nature and centrality of citta111
•    A person as discernment and the sentient body116
•    The vortical interplay of discernment and the sentient body119

• 8 DISCERNMENT AND CONDITIONED ARISING122
•    The nature of the constructing activities122
•    The conditioning of discernment by the constructing activities124
•    The conditioning of discernment by nāma-rūpa127
•    Discernment as conditioned by attention129
•    The conditioning of the sentient body by discernment130
•    Conditioned Arising as an analysis of the perceptual process134

• 9 DISCERNMENT AND THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS138
•    The perceptual process in the 'early Suttas'138
•    The nature and functions of cognition (saññā)141
•    The activity of discernment (viññāṇa)143
•    The functions of discernment in the Abhidhamma 'process of cittas'145
•    The nature of viññāṇa148
•    The effect of karma on discernment in the perceptual process151

• 10 BHAVAṄGA AND. THE BRlGHTLY SHINING MIND155
•    Is the bhavaṅga concept ruled out by the 'early Sutta' world-view?155
•    'Early Sutta' evidence for a bhavaṅga-type state151
•    The meaning of 'bhavaṅga'160
•    The roles of bhavaṅga162
•    The brightly shining citta166
•    Freedom from defilements169
•    The shining citta and bhavaṅga170
•    The Arahat's ever-shining citta173
•    The shining citta and the Buddha-nature 114
•    The shining citta and the realms of rebirth 111

• 11 NIBBĀNA AS THE TIMELESS 'STOPPING' OF THE ENTIRE
      PERSONALITY180
•    The nibbāna-element without remainder of upādi181
•    Nibbāna during life as not ever-present in the Arahat182
•    The 'stopping' of the personality-factors during life185
•    Nibbānic 'stopping' and nirodha-samāpatti 187
•    Re-entry to the state of 'stopping'188
•    Nibbāna during life as 'unborn', 'unconstructed' and 'deathless'189
•    Nibbāna as a timeless object of insight193

• 12 NIBBĀNA AS A TRANSFORMED STATE OF DISCERNMENT198
•    Nibbāna as a form of discernment199
•    Nibbānic discernment as 'stopped', 'objectless' and 'unsupported'201
•    Udāna.80 as a description of nibbānic discernment203
•    The nature of nibbānic discernment205
•    Unsupported discernment and nibbāna beyond death208
•    The relation of nibbānic discernment to the Arahat's normal state210
•    Theravādin perspectives214
•    Mahāyāna perspectives217

• 13 SEEKING THE TATHĀGATA227
•    The 'untraceability' of the tathāgata228
•    The 'hard to fathom' tathāgata and Dhamma231
•    The tathāgata as 'not being apprehended'235
•    Nibbānic discernment and the views on the tathāgata after death239

• 14 CONCLUSION246

•    Appendix: The Theory of the Process of Cittas252

•    Notes259
•    Abbreviations274
•    Bibliography277
•    Index and glossary282

• Charts
• 1. The 'process of cittas' in waking consciousness, according to Abhidhamma theory146
• 2. The citta-sequence in sleep163
• 3. The citta-sequence in meditative jhānas163